To match the focus on sustainability that has been part of its educational curriculum for several years, the University of Michigan is putting another $14 million towards becoming a greener institution.
Last week President Coleman announced a series of environmental measures to be achieved by 2025, including the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 25% (equal to removing nearly 42,000 cars from the streets). Other goals consist of shrinking the quantity of waste sent to landfills by 40%, reducing chemicals use on campus landscaping by 40%, and preventing about one-third of stormwater runoff from entering the Huron River.
The university has also pledged to obtain 20% of its food from local, sustainable sources. Waste destined for landfills will be cut by 40%. Some of this savings will come from the dining halls, which will go tray-less as facilities are built or renovated.
The university is purchasing 37 hybrid vehicles (including seven buses), which should be arriving in December. Also, a 600-kilowatt solar panel field capable of producing 750,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity annually is planned for North Campus. In addition, U-M's first geothermal heating and cooling system will be situated at the Weisfeld Family Golf Center.
These measures are the result of a two-year
Campus Sustainability Integrated Assessment involving faculty, operations staff, and students. About 80 students collectively contributed 10,000 hours' worth of analysis, benchmarking, and working with staff to see how green goals could be implemented, according to Don Scavia, director of U-M's Graham Institute for Environmental Sustainability.
During the course of the study, students benchmarked against other universities around the country; however, Scavia says, "We're not aware of any other university of our size and our scale that has done such a comprehensive, detailed deep analysis that engaged students and faculty and staff and outside advisors and put together a set of goals that cut across all these different topics, from food purchasing to energy reduction and greenhouse gas reduction."
The goals stemmed from not only student-faculty-staff collaborations, but teachable moments. Scavia points to the
Graham Institute's offering of a sustainability doctoral fellows program, now in its sixth year. And undergraduates of any major are eligible for a certificate of sustainability after leadership training and 12 credits' worth of relevant courses. Another course, "Sustainability on Campus" has students team with operations staff on projects such as investigating tray-less dining and alternatives to bottled water.
"I want the message to be clear: Sustainability defines the University of Michigan," U-M President Coleman said during her announcement of the initiative. "Combine maize and blue, and you get green."
Sources: Don Scavia, director of U-M's Graham Institute for Environmental Sustainability; University of Michigan
Writer: Tanya Muzumdar
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